Best Vacation Rentals Sites 2013

Homeaway was once again voted best overall vacation rental site for generating bookings by COHR subscribers. With 23% of the votes, Homeway led the vote, with Ownersdirect (18%) and Flipkey (17%) taking the next places. VRBO slipped down to fourth place from second in our last survey, while Holiday Lettings showed an improvement in placing fifth.

Adventurepads was voted as best free vacation rental site, with Domegos coming a close second. However, once again, many vacation rental owners cited that they either don't use free sites or don't generate a lof of bookings when they are used.

In the US category, Homeaway was, perhaps unsurprisingly,again the winner, with Flipkey and VRBO voted next best. Cyberrentals, surprisingly, showed in fourth place, showing there is still life in the old dog yet.

In Europe, Ownersdirect was the winner, with Holidaylettings and Homeaway UK just behind them.

In the Specialist vacation rental site category, Adventurepads was the winner, with Toptravelangebot ( for German speaking guests) and Villas2000 ( specialist in Florida) next best.

You can find the full results on All Holiday Rentals on the Best Holiday Rentals 2013 page.

Survey: Best Vacation Rentals Sites 2013

Which Vacation Rental Sites are "Best in Class"?


You can take the survey here:  COHR Best Vacation Rental Sites 2013


COHR has been the leading comparison site for Vacation Rental Owners for the past six years. Together with our sister site, AHR, we provide information and advice to vacation rental owners on getting the most from their Vacation Rental.


We would like your input on  the "Best Vacation Rentals Sites" , including the following categories:


Best Overall Vacation Rentals Site

Best Free Vacation Rentals Site

Best US Vacation Rentals Site

Best European Vacation Rentals Site

Best Specialist Vacation Rentals Site


You can take the survey here:  COHR Best Vacation Rental Sites 2013

(Please note that you will be asked for an email address to confirm you are a real person: please feel free to leave an alias email, if you do not want to share your actual email. However, I will send the survey results to all respondents. In addition, I will post the results on this blog.)


For reference, check out the results of the 2011 Best Vacation Rental Sites Survey.

Nominate Your Favorite Vacation Rentals Sites

Which Vacation Rental Sites are "Best in Class"?



COHR has been the leading comparison site for Vacation Rental Owners for the past six years. Together with our sister site, AHR, we provide information and advice to vaction rental owners on getting the most from their Vacation Rental.

We are planning to conduct our 2012 "Best Vacation Rentals Sites" survey in early December. We plan to include the following categories:

• Best Overall Vacation Rentals Site
• Best Free Vacation Rentals Site
• Best US Vacation Rentals Site
• Best European Vacation Rentals Site
• Best Specialist Vacation Rentals Site

Nominees will be chosen from the list of sites on COHR or AHR. The winners will be selected by the 5,000 current COHR Newsletter subscribers and will be announced by the end of the year. Please browse these lists to find your favorites.

Then, if you would like to nominate specific Vacation Rental Sites, please email me with your nominations at kevin@compareownerholidayrentals.com

For reference, check out the results of last year's 2011 Best Vaction Rental Sites Survey.

Best Holiday Rentals Listings Sites Survey 2011

COHR recently conducted a survey of Holiday Rentals Owners to find which Holiday Rentals Listings Sites gave them the most bookings in 2011.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the bigger sites came out best in the survey.

Owners voted Homeaway as the best site overall, with 19% of Holiday Rentals Owners saying it gave them the most bookings. VRBO was only just behind with 18% of Owners saying they received most bookings on the VRBO site. Flipkey was third with 14%, a strong finish for a site that it definitely emerging as a major player in the Holiday Rentals by Owner industry.

Given the consolidation that has been going on in the Holiday Rentals marketplace, it is perhaps no surprise that 5 of the top 9 sites are owned by the Homeaway group. These are Homeaway, VRBO, Homelidays, Ownersdirect and Vacationrentals.

There were also two sites owned by Tripadvisor in the top nine i.e. Flipkey and Holidaylettings.

Among Free Holiday Rentals Listing Sites, Vacationrentals411 (18%) was the narrow winner over Adventurepads (17%). Vacationrentals411 was also the only free site to make the top nine overall sites.

(There were two sites that offer free trials that featured in the top nine: Flipkey and VacationHomeRentals .)

However, it was interesting to note that 26% of Holiday Rentals Owners said that they either don't use Free Holiday Rentals Listings sites or that they don't get any bookings from them.

You can find the full survey results on All Holiday Rentals Best Holiday Rentals Listing Sites Survey 2011 .

Best Vacation Rentals Sites: Yahoo Group Survey Results

I recently conducted a survey on the best vacation rental sites for 2011. The participants of this survey were the yahoo group for vacation rentals and the results are shown below.

Overall, there were 49 respondents, so the sample is quite small. Also, the yahoo group is not necessarily fully representative of all vacation rental owners. For example, they consist primarily of US vacation rentals owners. Also, they are presumably more heavily involved in renting on a personal basis than most vacation rental owners, as evidenced by their active membership of the group.

(I plan to conduct a similar survey among the COHR newsletter subscribers later this year.)

However, the results give an indication of the views of an experienced group of vacation rental owners.

In response to the question, "which of these vacation rental sites gave you the most bookings this year?", the results were:

1. VRBO 20



2. Homeaway 7



3. Flipkey 6




4. Vacation Home Rentals 3



5. Vacationrentals 2



6. Holidaycube 2



7. Other 9
   
   Total 49

VRBO is the clear winner among the group, probably not surprising, as VRBO has been an industry leader, particularly in the US, for many years.

(Note: VRBO Special Offer: Sign up for a 12 month listing and get your 13th free with VRBO.com. Use code CJQ4 )

Homeaway's position in second place is also not a big surprise. As the largest player in the industry (with many other sites in the portfolio), Homeaway is continuing to build capability.

(Note: $25 OFF 12-month fees at HomeAway.com when you enter code G307. )

Flipkey's strong showing is interesting. Flipkey is owned by Tripadvisor and is obviously benefiting from this relationship.

Although smaller than the big players, both VacationHomeRentals.com and Vacationrentals are strong in the US and have loyal supporters among those who list with them.

(Note: Vacation rentals are running a special $99 promotion during August: click below for more details. )

Save $100 off a new annual membership on VacationRentals.com. Enter code VR100AUG at check out to redeem. Hurry, Offer ends 8/31/2011.


Holidaycube's inclusion is interesting: they were not on the original list of options, but were mentioned in the comments on both paid and free sites (see below).

In response to the question, "Which of the following FREE sites has given you most bookings this year?", the results were as follows:

1. None 15


2. Vacationrentals411 6


3. Adventurepads 5


4. Holidaycube 4


5. Craigslist 2


6. Domegos 2


7. Other 15
   
   Total 49
   
   

It is interesting that almost one third of the vacation rental owners polled said that they either don't use or don't get any bookings from free vacation rental sites. In some ways, this is not surprising, as many of the free sites are sites that are still trying to establish themselves by building vacation rental listings. Hopefully, as some of these sites get established, they will begin to attract greater renter traffic. On the other hand, is does call into question whether it is worth investing the time to list on free sites.

The leading free site was Vacationrentals411 (which also got one vote in the overall category). VR411 has been established for quite some time and offers free listings as standard, with the ability to pay for premium listings. This perhaps gives it the funding to invest the marketing dollars to attract renters.

Adventurespads also scored highly. Adventurepads is a niche site, focusing on vacation rentals for active travellers.

Holidaycube also received 4 votes , even though it was not on the list of options and hence might be worth checking out.

Best Vacation Rental Sites Survey

Although the summer vacation rental season is now in full swing, probably most renters have booked their vacations. Of course, there will still be last minute bookings, but anyone who owns a vacation rental will have a good feel for how this season is goin to turn out.

Hence, I've decided to post a survey to see which sites are giving the best bookings this year. I've kept the survey very simple, asking about the best paid sites, as well as the best free vacation rental sites.

If you want to participate, you can find the survey here :

COHR Best Vacation Rentals Sites Survey 2011

Please note that I am using iContact to host the survey and hence it will ask for an email address to validate your response. This email address will not be used for any other purpose (so feel free to make one up !!!!)

I will publish the results on this blog site as soon as I have a decent level of responses.